The New Girl
by secondmezzanine
Summary: AKA HIMYM High. Or, you know, HIMYM set in high school. Robin Scherbatsky, tired of life as Robin Sparkles, arrives as the new girl in school and soon finds herself torn between sweet sophomore Ted Mosby and womanizing senior Barney Stinson. Angst and more angst.
1. Chapter 1

_Select cup size. Select strength. Select coffee flavor. Press start, or choose whip._

"Press start," Robin murmurs, her index finger poised over the button. "Or choose whip… whipped coffee?" It sounds riskier than she's willing to go today.

Today is a day of conservative choices. Today is a day of plain skinny jeans, black flats, and a T-shirt. Today is a day for an unremarkable ponytail. Today is not the day to attempt whipped coffee from the high school commons' questionable coffeemaker. She flexes her finger and thinks for a moment.

"Just push the button!" a male voice exclaims over her shoulder, and then there's a hand pushing hers out of the way, pressing "whip" before she can even react.

"What—hey!" she exclaims, stepping back and letting her eyes follow the length of the unfamiliar arm, until a tall blond boy with a fitted, button-down shirt and alarmingly tight jeans comes into focus. "I didn't ask your opinion, blondie!"

"You were hesitating. Never hesitate over crappy coffee. Just whip it." He laughs. "Whip it good."

"Wh—what?!"

"It's not too late. To whip it. Hello? Like the song?" He grabs the now-full cup from the coffeemaker and looks at the name tag still stuck to her shirt from this morning's New Student Orientation. "See ya 'round, Skerbatsby."

"Scherbatsky," she corrects instantly, then kicks herself. So much for anonymity.

"Scherbatsky," he repeats. He raises the stolen cup like a toast to her and walks off into the crowd of students, still chuckling.

She really hates senior guys.

**~x~**

She meets Ted, a fellow sophomore, almost immediately, and it's almost too easy—he helps her find the biology department, and afterward takes her to the cafeteria. She eats lunch with him and his friends Lily and Marshall, a couple so adorkably in love she doesn't know whether to cringe or just grin like a dope at them.

They're all so perfectly high school. Lily's an artist, that's easy to see. Ted's into history, and Marshall—she doesn't quite know about Marshall yet, except for the fact that he's sweet and can eat four corn dogs and half a full-sized bag of potato chips in less than twenty minutes.

When they ask where she's from, she says upstate. It's a lie, but it doesn't seem to matter. They all smile politely and ask her more questions—easier-to-answer questions, like whether she has siblings and if she's taken the SATs yet. Simple stuff. High school stuff.

She tries not to feel giddy.

When Ted asks her to go to the football game with him on Friday night, it's so easy to say yes, she barely has to consider it.

When he buys her a hot chocolate (instant mix in a Styrofoam cup) at the game and shares a blanket with her, it's obvious.

When he kisses her in his car before dropping her off at home, she knows it for sure.

He's the guy.

The guy she's seen in TV shows. Read about in _Seventeen._That high school boyfriend. The one you go to prom with and write cutesy messages in the yearbook with and eventually go all the way with for the first time. He's got dark curly hair and nerdy glasses and a plan for his college applications. He's so far removed from the world of pop stardom and tour buses and the spotlight she wants to cry.

So when he asks her to be his girl, she doesn't even have to think.

**~x~**

When she finds out that the blond coffee thief is named Barney, Robin laughs through all of eighth period. Then she finds out he's Ted's best friend. "That guy? He's… he's kind of a jerk," she says to Lily in the girls' bathroom.

"I know," Lily says. "But you get used to that."

"I wouldn't."

"Trust me." Lily smiles. "You will."

**~x~**

She tries not to let on that she's never been to a real high school before. Ted laughs at the way she can't quite get the hang of finding her way around the school, or the way she shies away from the yearbook photographers like they're paparazzi, but he's cool with it. Barney, however, razzes her at every turn.

When she seems too excited about a school pep rally one Friday afternoon, Ted squeezes her hand and calls her adorable. Barney feigns retching and asks if anyone has any Pepto. "No one actually enjoys the pep rally, Shazbertzy," he says. "What were you, secretly a cheerleader at your last school? Hot."

"No. We… just never had pep rallies in Canada," she lies. Too late she realizes her mistake.

"Canada?" Ted repeats.

"CANADA?" Barney's eyes widen, the corner of his mouth lifting.

"I meant—my old school."

"Your old school in CANADA?" Barney says with glee.

"I don't want to talk about it." She goes to the girls' bathroom until the bell rings and she knows they're gone.

Later, in Ted's car, she tells him the truth. Part of it. A small part. Almost nothing, really. Just that she's from Vancouver. "I just… I felt trapped there and when my dad moved here, I wanted a new start. And I don't want to be the Canadian girl, or…" _Or have anyone think about me enough for it to occur to them to Google me_.

"But you lied," Ted says. "I don't know why you would lie." He looks genuinely distraught, and she doesn't know what else to do, so she says she's sorry and kisses him. And pulls him into the backseat and kisses him again. And eventually takes her shirt off, and kisses him some more. Until she's sure that he's not thinking about Canada. Or the truth. Or anything.

The next day she overhears Barney mention the Vancouver thing, and Ted tells him to back off, like it's a sore spot.

But she's okay with that, if it means no more questions.

**~x~**

In early November, she walks in on Barney making out with a petite brunette in the art supply room. The girl runs out, embarrassed, but Robin and Barney just stare at each other for a long moment. "Really, Barney?" she finally says. "Really?"

"Don't be jealous, Scherbatsky." He buttons the undone button on his shirt.

She can't help but notice it's the first time he's gotten her name right. "Uh, please. You're not my type."

"Oh yeah? What is your type?"

She smiles and crosses her arms. "Oh… Ted Mosby. You know, the All-American boy."

Barney looks confused. "All-American boy? Ted? Do you even know what that phrase means, Canada?"

"Shut up."

He laughs. "You really hate talking about it, don't you."

"I said shut up. Are you done in here? I need to find some… I forget. Art supplies."

He's still smiling at her. Finally he runs his hands through his hair, combing it with his fingers, and slides past her out the door. "Let me know if you need any help figuring things out in here," he adds.

She thinks she really hates him.

**~x~**

At Thanksgiving, Ted introduces her to his family. His sister Heather latches on to her immediately, and his parents keep filling her plate with more food. She resists the urge to tell them all that Real Thanksgiving is long past, or that last year she spent it with her manager at a mall opening in Ottawa.

It starts to snow after the sun goes down, and she and Ted walk around the block catching snowflakes on their tongues. "I think I might love you," Ted says, taking her hand. "And I've been thinking that for a while now."

It catches her off guard, because this is all so great and fun and simple, and he's not supposed to make it a forever kind of thing—it's a normal-teen-life kind of thing, isn't it?—so she just smiles and says how glad she is to have met him. He bites his lip and hesitates, like he wants to say something else, but stops.

"Give me some more time?" she asks, and he hugs her.

It's the best fake Thanksgiving she's ever had.

**~x~**

She's perfectly happy ignoring Barney, but he sees her alone at a table in the library after school one day and corners her.

"'Sup, Skerbattaby?"

She rolls her eyes and opens her math book. "What do you want, Barney?"

"I just think it's about time we had the talk."

"The talk?" A librarian shushes them from across the room. "The talk?" Robin repeats in a whisper.

Barney takes off his jacket—she has to admit, the boy is pretty well dressed for a high schooler—and sits beside her. "About Ted."

Something about his voice makes her shift uneasily. He sounds… serious. Sincere. Something about the way he locks eyes with her makes her want to look away, but she doesn't.

"Ted's… my bro. My best friend. I get that you're not my biggest fan, and that's—that's whatever. But…" He looks away now. "But based on what he's told me, I get the feeling you're not as into him as he is into you, and I just gotta say, whatever game you're playing…"

"Game?" she snaps, prompting another shush from across the room.

"_Yeah_," he says, quiet but with emphasis. "Something about… I don't know. It's like you're playing house with him."

There's no way. There's no way he could know what she's been through, what she wants, how difficult it's been for her to just become an average high school girl after years of—there's no way.

"You don't know anything about me," she finally says, her voice stiff.

He puts a hand over hers then. It's the first time he's ever touched her, and his hand is surprisingly warm. She stares at it as his long fingers curl over hers. "So tell me," he says simply. "I don't like being lied to."

Robin yanks her hand away and stands up. "You're not important enough to me to bother lying to."

He rolls his eyes. "But Ted is?"

"That's not—that's not what I—"

"C'mon, Robin, I'm trying to be a friend here."

"No, you're not. You're trying to catch me in a lie."

He purses his lips for a long moment. "I think only someone who's got something to hide would talk like that."

She's so mad that she wants to shout at him. Tell him that she _has_to lie so everything here isn't over and ruined. Instead, she grabs her things and walks out. She walks all the way to Ted's house, and when he asks what's wrong, she says it's nothing. Just a bad day.

The next day she sees Barney sticking his tongue down a freshman girl's throat, and she wants to throw something.

**~x~**

There's a note in her locker the next day. She grins as she opens it, because it's so Ted to leave her a handwritten note instead of sending her an email or a text. "What's that, a looove note?" Lily teases her, and Robin grins sheepishly.

But it's not from Ted. It's from Barney.

_Scherbatsky—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have grilled you like that. Ted really likes you, so I want you guys to be happy. Friends?_

-B

"It's from Barney," she murmurs as she reads it again, before she has time to realize that she probably shouldn't tell anyone about this.

Lily frowns. "Why is Barney leaving notes in your locker?"

"It's just—" Robin sighs and shoves it in her bag. "It's just an apology. He was questioning whether I really liked Ted or not. I think he got that it bugged me."

"That's ridiculous!" Lily says as they push into the crowd and head toward class. "Of course you like Ted! …don't you?"

"Yes! Of course! Why wouldn't I like Ted?! Obviously I like Ted!"

"Okay, okay, I got it," Lily says. "Calm down."

_I am calm_, Robin thinks. She reads the note four more times before the final bell, as if there's something between the lines she might catch. But there's nothing. Just a small pencil smudge over her name, like he'd touched the paper there.

**~x~**

She and Ted have their first fight in early December. She catches him Googling her name—just a way to pass the time in study hall, he says, but the guilty look on his face tells her it was more than that. "I just don't know anything about who you were before you came here, okay?" he finally admits. "I don't even know what school you went to. C'mon, everyone Googles the people they're dating."

"I don't," she says, on the verge of tears.

He says she's making too much of it. She says maybe if he thinks her feelings are so trivial, they should take a break. He says maybe they should, and then they both get kicked out of study hall for making too much noise.

It's Barney who finds her later. She's sitting on the front steps of the school, chin in her hand, watching the cheerleading squad practice their drills on the lawn.

"I heard what happened," he says.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay." He sits quietly for a moment. "Just tell me what it is."

"What?"

"The big secret. The reason Ted's not allowed to ask you personal questions. Where you were before you came here. Believe me, I've already looked online, and there's nothing on a Robin Scherbatsky."

"There wouldn't be," she says bitterly, thinking for the first time that's she's grateful to her manager for coming up with the stupid stage name. Slowly, carefully, Barney drapes an arm around her. She nearly flinches at first, but lets it happen. "Don't try to get close to me, Barney. It's obnoxious," she says finally.

"Too late," he grins.

They sit there for a long time, long enough that she relaxes a little. He pulls her closer. "Look, I care about you," he finally says, awkward. "You're… cool. You're kind of weird." She half-smiles and wipes at her nose. "You get excited about stupid things," he continues. "And you've got a great—"

"_Don't_even say something chauvinistic right now."

"Okay… you've got a great… _smile_." He rubs her shoulder.

She can't help laughing. "Thanks, Barney."

When he gets up to leave, he turns back to smile at her and suddenly, she almost wants to tell him.

She doesn't, of course.

**~x~**

It's easy to make up with Ted, because most things are easy with Ted. They're kissing by the lockers when she catches Barney watching them. She breaks away from Ted and sends Barney a look that's supposed to say, "_I'm being careful. I care about him, too_." But something apparently went wrong in the translation, because Barney just bites his lip and turns, walking away.

She's just grateful he's not grilling her anymore.

Being friends with Barney is better than trying to ignore him all the time, she decides. He's a good guy to have on her side during gym class—apparently years of laser tag have given him perfect dodgeball reflexes. She's no slouch either; she hadn't played PeeWee hockey for nothing, so together they're a killing machine. "Damn, Scherbatsky!" Barney laughs after a particularly ruthless game. "Who knew you had that kind of bloodlust?"

"Please," she grins. "All Canadians have it."

And he's surprisingly smart when it comes to SAT prep. "The guy took it four times," Marshall tells her one day when no one else is around. "Scholarship's his best chance at a good college next year."

"Ha," Robin says flippantly. "I didn't think he cared about much except chasing girls and being annoying."

"Whoa, hey," Marshall says, stopping in the middle of the hall and shaking his head. "You get that he's more than that, right? I mean, deep down."

"Well—yeah. I mean, I guess," Robin admits. "I get that vibe, sometimes."

"What vibe?" Barney's voice interrupts them. "Something kinky?"

She and Marshall look at each other and roll their eyes, but the conversation sticks with her.

**~x~**

Just before winter break, Lily and Marshall have the idea to do Secret Santa between the five of them. "But we'll know exactly who everyone has," Ted teases. "Don't you think it'll be obvious? Back me up here, Barney."

"Secret Santa is lame," Barney says in monotone, his attention fully focused on his phone.

"I think it sounds fun," Robin says. "I've never done Secret Santa before."

"Shocker," Ted says. "Something Robin's never done before."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Ted says. "You just… you say that a lot."

"No, I don't," she says, trying to sound calm. "Back me up here, Barney."

"Secret Santa is lame," Barney repeats, still texting.

"Uh, different topic, bro," Ted says. "Who are you texting?

"Jackie Barrett. Her parents have a hot tub on their patio." Barney lets out a dirty chuckle, his eyes never leaving his phone.

"Gross," Robin and Lily say simultaneously. Lily tries to turn the conversation back to Secret Santa, but Robin loses interest, watching Barney. He waves to a blonde girl across the cafeteria, and then a pretty sophomore girl stops at their table to whisper something in his ear that makes him grin and wink at her, in that way that only he can pull off. Then he's texting again, and waving again, and finally Robin breaks.

"Stop it."

"Hmm?" He doesn't even look up.

"Stop being disgusting. Just—just pick a girl, and stick with her. I'm sick of watching you treat women this way." She doesn't even know what's coming out of her mouth. Sure, she's thought these things before, but has it really bothered her this much? Really?

_Maybe_, a voice says somewhere deep down.

She's still talking, she realizes. Something about chauvinism and players and refusing to stop texting when Lily's explaining Secret Santa. And when she finally stops the word vomit, she looks around the table, and everyone is staring at her. Marshall's mouth is hanging open so wide, she can practically see his tonsils. Ted looks… well, she's not sure what his expression is saying. Lily looks like she's overanalyzing.

Barney looks positively shaken. "The way _I_treat…?" He trails off. "This, coming from you? Look at how you treat Ted!"

"Hey," she warns.

"Don't hey me, Canada. You want to talk about treating people well, take a look in the mirror. You've been lying to Ted since Day One."

She feels the hair on the back of her neck prickle. "This? Again? I told you—"

"Yeah, I know what you told me." Barney stands, pushing his chair out from behind him. "It's a load of bullshit."

"Where the hell do you get off?" She stands to meet his eye level. Other students are starting to look now, but it barely registers. "You don't know anything about me!"

"No?" he says, his tone biting. He looks at Ted, Marshall, and Lily, then meets Robin's eyes again and doesn't flinch. "You all want to know the truth? Go look up Robin Sparkles."

She can't breathe for a moment. Barney holds her gaze, just long enough for her to finally remember to take a choked breath of air, and kicks his chair aside and walks out.

Then, vaguely, through the fog, she registers the sound of dozens of students whipping out their phones. To take pictures of the ridiculous scene or to search the name Robin Sparkles, she doesn't know.

All she sees is Ted slowly shaking his head.


	2. Chapter 2

She knew it would happen eventually. People would find out. She'd be teased mercilessly. People would try selling pictures of her to gossip rags (probably to find out that no one in the US really cared about her, but still). She'd ask her father to let her switch schools just to avoid it all. She'd lose normalcy. She'd lose Ted.

Because you don't get to keep your nice, normal, high school boyfriend when you lie to him for months, she reminds herself through her tears. This is all her fault. Not Barney's. Hers.

God, she was delusional to think she could pretend to be plain old Robin Scherbatsky forever.

When the breakup happens, it isn't messy. It's so quick—a few stiff, awkward words on the phone, initiated by Ted—it almost seems like it isn't real.

**~x~**

The day before Christmas Eve, a Saturday, Barney comes over to her house and manages to charm her father into letting him inside. Robin's up in her bedroom, sitting in her desk chair and staring at a calendar. Four months. She was a regular, non-singing, non-mall-opening, non-freak for four whole months.

"I don't know what I was expecting," Barney says as he enters, lowering his head a little because he's almost too tall to get through the door. "But I'm surprised at the lack of glitter in here."

"What are you doing here?" she asks as she turns, almost not even caring.

He looks around the room for a moment and then perches on the edge of her blue bedspread. "Just… wanted to apologize."

"For?"

"Outing you."

She laughs without humor and looks away. "We both know it would've come out eventually. Are you really sorry, or did you just want to come over and gloat?" He looks puzzled. "Oh come on," Robin says, standing up. She grabs a hockey puck off her desk and presses it between her hands as she paces. "You can't tell me you didn't want me and Ted to break up."

"No, I didn't."

"I don't really see any other reason to give me so much crap this year. No seriously, tell me. How long were you sitting on that information? How'd you figure it out?"

Barney sighs and leans back on his hands. "Robin. You're famous in Canada. It wasn't hard."

"Tell me."

He shrugs. "I… fine. I've only known for a couple of days. I did an image search. You know, I uploaded a picture of you. And I got about a million hits for some teen pop singer from Canada. God, I still _almost_don't believe it. But it's not like you're denying it… can I get your autograph, by the way?" She moves to throw the hockey puck at him, but he jumps up and blocks her arm, taking hold of her wrist. "Scherbatsky, come on. Can you blame a guy for being impressed?" He gives her a puppy-eyed look.

"You're not impressed," she says quietly, very aware of his hand on her wrist. "You're practically giddy. I bet you couldn't wait to tell Ted what a fraud I am."

"Hey, you're not a fraud. And you're wrong about the other thing, too. Believe it or not, I want Ted to be happy. That's why…" He sighs and drops her hand.

"What?"

"It's just been—nothing." She raises her eyebrows, waiting. "It's been hard. That's all. Watching whatever's been happening with you two. Wondering if you were ever gonna tell him the truth… it wasn't exactly fun watching you guys make out in the hallway every day." He steps around her and goes to her desk, then reaches out and touches a couple of her knick-knacks. He runs a hand through his hair, nervous.

Robin lets out a deep breath. "Well if you were so worried about Ted—"

"It's not—that's not it, Robin. God…" He turns back to face her. "You think I like being in love with someone I can't have? You think it's fun, chasing all these other girls all over town because I can't get this other person out of my head? You think I just can't wait for you to hurt my best friend so I can swoop in like a complete idiot?"

Stunned silence fills the space between them. Robin doesn't move. Behind them, a pen rolls off the desk.

"Are you saying you're in love with Ted?" she finally breathes, almost hopeful.

He doesn't laugh. Just slowly exhales, licks his lip. "No," he says. "I'm not." He takes a step toward her. She backs up and hits the side of the bed. Another step and he's closed in on her. "Let's just pretend this never happened," he says, "because it can't happen."

Then his hand is on her hip, and he's brushing a long strand of brown hair from her face, and his nose brushes hers just before he kisses her. _What is this_, she thinks for a moment, but then it's just him, pressing warmth against her, nudging her lips apart, deepening the kiss, and she realizes her eyes are closed and her hands are in his hair. And she's trembling but it's so intoxicating, so intense… and then she's not thinking about anything.

And it's not like Ted.

It's not high school, or simple, or cliché.

"Okay," he murmurs into her mouth, "Maybe it can happen…"

His fingers are pressing into her back, pulling her body into his, when her eyes open again. She breaks the kiss, suddenly aware of the fact that her heart is pounding. He moves his mouth to her cheek and trails along her skin, until he's pressing a kiss under her jaw, on her neck, and it feels so good, it terrifies her. "You have to go," she blurts out, pushing him off her.

"Why?" he says, breathless.

"Because. I want to—I want to work it out with Ted." The moment she says his name, she's not sure if it's true, and tears spring to her eyes.

"Do you?" Barney asks.

"Yes." Robin busies herself fixing her shirt. "That's—he's what I want. I'm sorry."

He nods, slowly. Then, as if realizing there's nothing else to say, he turns for the door. As soon as his hand touches the doorknob, he stops. "I just gotta ask. Why would you even want a guy who knows nothing about you?"

"Well—because," she starts lamely. "A normal life starts to look appealing after a while."

"And Robin Sparkles can't try to live normally?"

"No," she says sharply. "That world isn't… it's fake, and plastic, and lonely. Everything has to be supersized, and exciting, and viewer-worthy and just… go, go, go, all the time. And I wanted out. I wanted to forget it. Ted helps me do that. He's, you know, he's that guy."

He takes his hand off the doorknob and steps back. "What guy?"

"The high school boyfriend guy! That's what I want! The cliché! The kissing at football games and holding hands during study hall guy!" She starts pacing again. "The guy who's just—just—"

"Juuuuuust someone you don't have to feel too strongly about? Not… supersized and viewer-worthy?" He looks like he wants to laugh.

"Yes! No. No, that's not it." She stops pacing and looks at him. "I do feel strongly about him. But it's different."

"Different _how._"

She throws her hands up. "I… I don't have to be afraid of anything with him. I know what's coming. No surprises."

Barney balks. "This is supposed to be a good thing?"

"Get out."

This time, he does.

**~x~**

After the holidays, Robin isn't sure whether she's welcome at the lunch table anymore, so she sits in the opposite corner of the cafeteria, away from their usual table. But soon enough, Lily's sitting down across from her, talking about an art project she's frustrated with, and where Lily goes, Marshall follows, so he sits down with three bowls of pasta and two bananas, and before Robin realizes what's happening, Ted sits down next to her and they smile shyly at each other and Lily keeps talking like nothing has changed. And halfway through the lunch period, Barney shows up.

He doesn't look at Robin. He pulls on one of Lily's short, red braids and steals the cookie off Ted's plate and tells them all that he's been kicked out of the Triple Play Sportz complex for accidentally breaking some poor kid's nose during laser tag over New Years. "Oh," he says, "And I might be going to Rutgers in September."

They all stop eating and stare at him.

Marshall is the first to speak. "Seriously, man? That's awesome!" Then they all chime in, patting Barney on the back, asking him about the scholarship he's up for. Robin feels her lips moving, but there's no sound. It's almost like it hadn't occurred to her that he was really graduating in a few months, when the rest of them have a full two years to go.

"That's great," she finally chokes out. "…where is that again?"

**~x~**

Things are different now that everyone knows. At first, it's a lot of ribbing and teasing and autograph requests, even though no one had ever heard of Robin Sparkles before. Someone finds a link to a music video on a Canadian website and the embarrassment keeps her home sick for three days, until her dad forces her to go back. And even Coach Wallace can't resist shouting out, "Get a move on, Sparkles!" when she falls behind during gym laps.

The only consolation is the distraction of Barney winking at her, echoing, "Yeah, come on, Sparkles," as he runs by her. Then, at least, she can concentrate on catching up with him so she can smack him.

She can never think what to say around him anymore. He doesn't initiate any replays of the scene before Christmas, and she doesn't either.

**~x~**

She follows Ted to his car in the parking lot after school one day, steels her nerve, and asks him for another chance. "You all know everything now anyway," she says, trying to make him smile.

He seems torn for a few minutes, reminding her of why they broke up, what her lack of honesty meant to him, how it made him feel like nothing to her.

"You weren't nothing to me."

"I know, but… I don't think I was something special, either. And the thing is, Robin…" Ted leans back against his car door and shakes his head. "I'm not sure I even wanted to know why. I liked you, and I liked things simple, like you did. I mean…" He looks her in the eye. "Does that sound like two people who really have something real?"

Robin doesn't know what to say, so she shuffles her feet for a moment, and then Ted gets into his car.

"Besides. I think you were more upset at the thought of Barney graduating than the thought of us not getting back together."

Robin grabs the car door to stop him from closing it. "Whoa, whoa. That's… Ted, that's nothing."

He turns the key and the car whirs to life. "Don't worry about it, Canada," he smiles. "Just do me a favor, and work on telling the truth from now on. Okay?" His smile turns a little melancholy for a moment, and then he pulls the door shut and drives off.

**~x~**

If Ted noticed her reaction to Barney's imminent departure, surely the others did too. It takes her several days to work up the nerve to find out.

"Does everyone know?" Robin asks Lily during Spanish class, deliberately vague.

"S_í," says Lily._

She thinks she's going to puke.

**~x~**

The age difference between Barney and the rest of the group has always seemed like nothing. She's wondered why a senior would want to hang around a bunch of sophomores, but the way he likes to explain things and try to mold Ted's behavior makes it clearer. His influence over Ted usually has no effect, but it's amusing watching Barney try to get Ted to hit on girls, or to major in business too so they can start some kind of evil corporation someday.

But when she runs into him in the hallway when he's surrounded by a pack of fellow seniors all talking about graduation, she feels… like a kid. He's talking to a tall blonde girl in a miniskirt and even though they don't seem to be flirting, there's a pull of jealousy in Robin's chest that he's moving on without them all. Without her.

She turns down another hallway before he sees her, embarrassed.

**~x~**

Marshall and Lily throw a Valentine's Day party disguised as an Anti-Valentine's Day party to get people to come. It's surprisingly effective. By the time Robin arrives at Lily's house, the place is packed.

"Don't think I can't see through this," Robin says, taking off her coat and handing it to Lily. "You may have black streamers and horror movies on the TV, but this is still an excuse for you and Marshall to give each other presents.

"Oh, don't be a grouch," Lily says. "Anti-Valentine's Day chocolate?"

Robin's on her sixth piece of chocolate around the time Barney's talking to his sixth girl. She tries to talk to him a couple of times, but he always manages to disappear the second her eyes are averted to talk to another girl. She'd swear he's doing this on purpose, except that he never even looks at her. Or maybe he's just that evil. _Probably just evil_.

A senior offers her a beer and she shakes him off. "Oh, I forgot—gotta keep up that squeaky clean teen image, right, Sparkles?" the guy says, nearly falling over with laughter,and she shoves him aside and walks up to Barney. He's got his arm around a girl she doesn't recognize, and there's a beer in his hand, and he jumps when he sees her.

"Scherbatsky. Hey. You know Jessica?"

"Nope," Robin says carelessly. "So, you seen Ted around? I could use some company around here." It's immature, trying to use Ted to make Barney jealous, and kind of makes her sick, but then, so does the way Jessica's burrowing into Barney's side. "Oh, there he is," she says. "Have fun, kids. Use a condom."

Barney calls her name as she walks off, but she ignores it. She's talking to Ted when he finds them a few minutes later.

"Where's Jessica?" Robin asks, popping another chocolate into her mouth.

"Who?" Barney says.

"Aww. I was really looking forward to getting to know her," she snaps. "You two were so good together."

Ted gives her a strange look. "You okay, Robin?"

"Of course! Who wants more chocolate?" She holds up the bowl. "You know, the thing about being a Canadian pop star is that you can't eat as much chocolate as you want. Gotta say, that might be the reason I left." She laughs loudly. "And boy am I glad I left. Because there's nothing like stuffing your face with chocolate at an Anti-Valentine's Day party." She laughs again.

"Is she drunk?" Barney asks Ted, who shakes his head. "You need some air, Scherbatsky?"

"No, I do not need air, Barney. But thank you for the offer. I'm sure you have some other girls to attend to now, and I wouldn't want you to miss out on these last few months of quality time with them all, so I'll just…" Irritated, she smacks the bowl of candy back on the counter and turns to leave. "Sorry, Ted," she adds as an afterthought, and he lifts his hands as if to say he has no part in this, and then she pushes her way through the crowd in the kitchen.

All right, so maybe she does need some air.

The hallway is mercifully empty. She's struggling to get the front door open when Barney catches up with her. "It's ten degrees outside," he says calmly.

"So?"

"So… you're wearing a sleeveless dress."

"Guess what? I'M CANADIAN. I think I can handle it." At last she's able to open the door, and the blast of icy air hits her in the face. She purses her lips for a moment. "But, actually, I think—I think I don't really feel like going outside right now. So." She shuts the door and turns around, avoiding his eye.

"Okay, you want to go back to the party?" he says, still completely casual.

"No."

"You want to go outside? I'll get your coat."

"No!"

"You want me to set up Lil's karaoke machine so you can do a few Sparkles numbers?"

"I'm in love with you, all right?" It just bursts out of her. The moment it does, she feels her cheeks burning. But the party is going strong in the rest of the house, so maybe he didn't even hear her. She slides her eyes toward him, just to make sure.

He's clearly at a loss for words, because he doesn't move. Finally, he clears his throat. "You really don't have to say that. I won't make you do karaoke."

The music playing in the living room stops, and there's a pause before the next song starts that seems to go on for ages. Robin puts her hands over her eyes, humiliated. "Oh my god. Just. Forget I said anything. It was crazy."

Then he's kissing her.

And god, it's been a long time since he kissed her. Fifty-two days, to be exact. So she kisses him back. And kisses him, and kisses him. "Okay, stop," she finally says, and they both fall back against the front door, breathing heavily.

"What is this," Barney finally says, uncertain.

"It's—I don't know. It's kind of… terrifying?" She glances at him, hoping he's not offended. He seems unfazed, so she swallows and goes on. "This feels like too much. More than I wanted this year. Especially since you're leaving…"

"Jesus, Scherbatsky," he interrupts. "You are the biggest wimp I have ever met."

"What?"

Barney grabs her hand. "Just admit that you want me. Admit that you're not going to be satisfied with this tiny little high school life you think you have to have." He pulls her to him and kisses her. "Admit you think I'm awesome."

She doesn't say anything, so he kisses her again, deeper than before, and bites her lower lip. She makes a sound she's never heard come from her own throat before.

"Admit it," he whispers.

Her heart is pounding and her palms are sweaty. The idea of this—all of this, _love_, the uncertain future, giving herself to a guy who's as girl-crazy as they come—it makes her want to run.

But he's holding her hand, and they're not moving.

And he's the guy. The guy she never saw coming. The guy who took her perfect, clichéd life and made it real.

"Okay," she says. "Let's do this."

_**Thank you so much for reading this story. It's been awhile since I've written any HIMYM fic, but this idea has been in my head for a couple of years, and going through some personal angst of my own finally convinced me to write it. I hope you enjoyed—feedback is love. :)  
- Mezz**_


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